It shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to learn that a third of the members of Social Enterprise UK operate in health and social care. Social enterprises often work in tandem with charities, are part of a larger charity or are registered with charitable status. This too should be similarly unsurprising because both social enterprises and charities have a long history of supporting and delivering services across health and social care, be it working in partnership with the primary care provider, offering additional “outside” services or even fundraising for research and campaigning for change.

Social Enterprise UK are the main national body for social enterprise. There are of course others, but I’m willing to bet that the number of social enterprises that operate in health and social care providers are the same no matter which body does the measuring.

With many NHS trust’s operating at a deficit, having social enterprises work with the primary health care provider is a good way of making up any shortfall in service provision.

Lifelink are one such organisation which operates in the West of Scotland. They work with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to empower young people and adults to manage their stress more effectively. Based in Glasgow, they provide a range of services which help reduce self-harm and suicide ideation, supporting people to help realise their personal strengths.

Lifelink intervene early and help people manage and improve their mental health. Their service is client-centred, working extensively to build and maintain high quality partnerships with a large number of delivery partners and networks. This gives them the flexibility they need to operate in response to commissioned work, grant-funded programmes, different service level agreements and partnership agreements.

Chief Executive of Lifelink Jacqui Taylor is extremely passionate about the invaluable work of the organisation. Work which has a massive impact on those that use the service and changes lives in some of the most profound ways.

Jacqui goes into some detail about her work prior to Lifelink, but the best thing about this interview is how effusive she is about Lifelink, their mission and the important things that they do to help people with their stress and mental health.

I hope you enjoy the episode.

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Podcast developer at Kibble. You’ll usually find me online tweeting about social enterprise, child and youth care or third sector issues, in the office huddled over a microphone, or at home listening to Prince. Always ask questions, learn new things and be positive.